Randall has invented the term Qwertial Aphasia to describe the common experience of having a word, from a spoken conversation, accidentally spill over into something one is typing, often with humorous results.

The description "Qwertial" refers to the position of the top row of letters in the most common keyboard arrangement, the QWERTY keyboard layout, as this is only something that afflicts you while typing. Aphasia is a class of medical conditions which affect the production and understanding of language.

In this case Cueball is in the process of replying on the computer to his friend who just asked if they should go out to eat some food later. Cueball is about to explain why he should not, when Megan walks in and disturbs him with her stuffed toy giraffe which makes him say the word giraffe.

The joke set up in the comic comes from the substitution of the word 'giraffe' for the word 'frequently', which changes the whole meaning of Cueball's last sentence. The original sentence would have been I can't afford to keep eating out this frequently. The unintentional replacement makes 'giraffe' the object of the sentence, and implies that Cueball is eating out (slang for cunnilingus) a giraffe. He tries to correct himself by writing that he meant frequently but the damage is done and he will be the laughing stock with his friends for a while.

The title text continues the image of a giraffe as a sexual object - in particular, one which costs money. SMBC refers to the comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, a whimsical joke-a-day comic which comes with a second illustration, which can be seen by clicking on a button known as the "votey". This additional panel often serves as a second punchline in the same way as the title text does in xkcd . Zach Weiner of SMBC responded to this title text in the votey on July 2, 2009, the day after this comic was released.